The University of Malta is waiting to see how much capital expenditure it will receive from the government in the upcoming budget to see how it will proceed on the building of its long-proposed sports complex.

This was revealed by University of Malta rector Prof. Alfred J. Vella during an interview with The Malta Independent, when he was asked at what stage plans for the sports complex had arrived.

Vella said that the University had been waiting for planning permission before works could begin, particularly as the Planning Authority mandated that the University should include an underground car-park in the project.

In fact, the original permit for the complex was granted back in 2019 but on the condition that works could not start before a new application for an underground car park beneath the project was secured.

Vella said that the underground parking was not included in the original plan due to the costs, but added that the PA had then said that it would fund the parking area itself so that it could also cater to the community around the University.

It is estimated that the complex will include around 1,000 parking spaces, and the permit was approved earlier this year.

“It’s not our only infrastructural project, but it’s the one which has fallen back the most.  When I started out as Rector I dreamed that it would be finished in three years, but the parking matter stopped the whole process.  The modified permit should have been a matter of weeks, instead it took years,” Vella lamented.

He said that there are funds which will support the building of the car park.

“For the rest, we need to see what the government is going to give us in terms of capital expenditure in the upcoming Budget, but this project is an electoral pledge,” he said.

“I have no doubt that there will be support for it, but I cannot give you a timeframe for it,” Vella said when asked whether he knew when the project would kick off.

He said that he would like to see the project become a hub for sports and also a place where sports science is practiced professionally as well.